Looking
north along the hogbacks. The Rocky Mountain front is a large monoclinal
fold that finally faulted. The fault is not between the contact between the
sandstones and Precambrian rocks, but within the sandstones. West of the
fault the unconformity between the sandstones and underlying Precambrian
crystalline rocks can be seen in a number of places. One nearby locality is
on U.S. 24 at Manitou Springs a few kilometers to the west.

View
south along the Rocky Mountain front from the south end of the park

Thin
blades of upturned sandstone are the most famous features of Garden of the
Gods.

Balanced
Rock is a famous attraction at Garden of the Gods. It's not quite as
precarious as it looks because it's actually attached by a fairly long rib
of rock.

Note that the layers here are gently dipping. There are no hogbacks in
this area, which is west of the fault. These rocks are resting unconformably
on Precambrian crystalline rocks, and the contact is exposed a few
kilometers to the west at Manitou Springs.

The
rock looks a lot more precarious when seen end-on, the usual vantage point
for pictures.

Colorado
Springs.

Rocky
Mountain foothills from the south end of the park.

Nearby
Pike's Peak, easily the most user-friendly 14,000 foot peak in the U.S.,
adds to the scenic appeal of Garden of the Gods.